Although a lawsuit has been filed in federal court in connection with a possible hostage situation in Savage last October, Jon Iverson, the League of Minnesota Cities attorney who is representing the city of Savage, said the version of the events detailed in the complaint are inaccurate and he expects to file a motion for dismissal once the city is served.

As of June 1, the city had not received official notification of the lawsuit, Iverson said.

Julie Pyle and her husband, Steven, are the plaintiffs in the case. Julie Pyle was the resident who was taken from her home at gunpoint and handcuffed after police received a call of a possible hostage situation at a home at 8415 W. 153rd Place in Savage.

DirecTV and its Burnsville contractor, Premier Communications, along with two satellite television installers, are among those named in a lawsuit filed May 30 in U.S. District Court. An officer with the Savage Police Department and dispatchers with Scott County and DirecTV also are parties in the lawsuit.

The situation began when a DirecTV dispatcher apparently misunderstood a statement made by one of her installers working at Pyle’s home and called 911 to report that “the lady of the house was holding two of her technicians hostage at gunpoint.”

In reality, it was a difficult satellite installation and the men relayed to the DirecTV dispatcher that they were being “held hostage until they were done” and not in any danger. “He said ‘done’ and she heard ‘gun,’” stated former Police Chief Gordon Vlasak of the Oct. 13, 2006, conversation.

The DirecTV dispatcher called Pyle twice while the men were there to check on the progress of the installation. According to court documents, Pyle even baked cookies for the men because of the difficulties they encountered with the installation.

The lawsuit claims that police were aware there was not a hostage situation involving a gun before Pyle was called by a Scott County dispatcher and asked to come outside and talk to police. Yet, the lawsuit alleges, officers ordered her to the ground at gunpoint and handcuffed and interrogated her.

Iverson said the inaccuracy in the case is in the timeline “of what was conveyed during this serious 911 call.”

Information contained in court documents indicates that a Scott County dispatcher spoke directly with one of the technicians prior to police arriving at Pyle’s home and the man said, “We are not being held hostage by the customer, we were held, being held hostage by DirecTV.” The other installer told the police dispatcher, “I think there’s a major misconstrued statement going right now. Maybe they heard in the background the statement quote unquote to my manager that I am stuck her.”

In a statement issued shortly after the incident occurred, a representative of DirecTV stated the company’s first priority is the safety of its customers and its employees. “We take threats very seriously and have trained our customer service team on how to respond to emergency situations … We sincerely apologize for any embarrassment or other duress that the customer and installers experienced as a result of this incident.”

DirecTV officials have since declined comment on the matter.

Since the incident, according to the lawsuit, Pyle has suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that has resulted in intense fear and helplessness, sleep difficulties, intrusive recollections, panic attacks, difficulties in trusting others and psychological reactivity to internal and external cues resembling the traumatic event.

A settlement “in excess of $75,000” is being sought in each of the six counts cited in the lawsuit; the Pyles are seeking damages for negligent training, negligent supervision, false reporting of a crime, false arrest, infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium.

Prior to this case being filed in federal court, an insurance adjuster found that the city of Savage “performed appropriately” and denied any claim regarding the city of Savage. His decision indicated that the “error rests with DirecTV through their dispatcher.”

Attorney Marc Kurzman of Minneapolis is representing the Pyles.

 Ruth Anne Maddox can be reached at rmaddox@swpub.com.